Great shots

Some photos of the trip..

Above is the Borealis team, on Lake Winnipegosis, I think it is. Oh my, I'd better get my photos labeled, or I'll forget everything! This was a spectacular day, absolutely still.

A campsite in Quetico Provincial Park, one of the best on the trip. You can't see the little dam we swam below, or the memorable campsite.

I've arrived!

Well, it's done. We have all arrived safe and sound at Fort William--last Saturday, July 12.

Like other places, we were greeted formally with gun blasts and ceremony. Old Fort William really knows how to do this big though. We were paraded up to the Great Hall, where photos were taken, and we realized we had finished.

Celebrations included both a dinner and concert that evening, and a closing brunch the next morning. Stories and thank you's were exchanged. Then we all dispersed, each going our own ways. It was remarkable to see two other big canoes on their trailers in Dryden Sunday afternoon--and even more fun to see one of them on the road near Lacombe, AB on Tuesday morning. We are still connected despite the dispersal.

Like a theatre group, this community has been temporary. While connections might well be continued among some, the brigade will never be re-formed. It existed for a particular purpose only, and that has been fulfilled. We have celebrated the life and times of David Thompson. I have rekindled my love for canoeing, and intend to continue that. I have made new friends and reconnected with old paddling pals. Again, I hope to keep those connections live.

It's been quite the trip--more a journey than the destination.

Other stories

I'm only now getting the details of others' blogs about this incredible trip.

Paddler in the Paddle Canada 2 canoe Don McMurtry's version is here: http://donmcmurtry.blogspot.com/

Paddle Canada 1's blog is at http://paddlecanada1.blogspot.com/

Another paddler on the Paddle Canada 2 team, Richard Wagers also posts verbiage plus many photos
http://web.mac.com/rwagers/Site_2/Photos.html
and http://web.mac.com/rwagers/Site_2/Blog_2/Blog_2.html

Our canoe is labeled Pathfinder (the name of our team) so you might just see me there.

from Lac du Bonnet, on the road crew today. The paddlers are on the Winnipeg River, making their way through whitewater and big reservoirs.

Sharing the seat

A big part of this trip is beyond canoeing. It's all about strangers living and working together. True, we get to know each other, but it's not always easy to get along all the time.

Each of us has our own ways of doing things, from paddling in the canoe, to packing our gear, to just sharing the work. Some of us do better at getting along, chipping in with the chores. Others are more carefree and less concerned about the good of the whole group.

So it's a challenge to accommodate everyone. It's a challenge to get along.

We're learning how to do this, and even teaching others things, like how to paddle more efficiently, and hopefully how to get along better.

Again, there's a long line for the computers. About 100 people are on this trip, and many don't have their own laptop or Blackberry.

getting in the flow

It's day to day these days, just going with the flow. Public internet access is limited--I see I'm not as up to date as some. I don't have a Blackberry or anything similar, as do some folks.

This week we're challenging the Winnipeg River in flood. Upstream work! Some rapids on a big river. Some wilderness camping. And I'm the captain of the team this week.

It's lots of fun, and hard to revert to home thoughts when I do phone home, the worlds are so different.

There's a big line for the 2 computers here, so I'll close already.

at Cumberland

We're moving further east each day. Today we started at the EB Campbell dam on the Saskatchewan River, still in Saskatchewan, but not for long. In two days we will enter Manitoba.

For a primer on this river, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatchewan_River

This is proving to be a marathon kind of trip. Lots of paddling, more than one usually does in a day, at least at my age. Thanks to more paddlers than seats, we can change up our crew at least partly on most days. We appreciate this. We are up early, mostly at 4:30 am, although today it was 3:30 am. We're on the water by 6 usually, an hour earlier today (no wonder my fingers aren't working so well.)

Yesterday we were off the water by 2, planned so we could avoid winds on the big Lake Tobin. Which we did. It was actually the first day we could have a real happy hour, a time to sit and chat. We had no obligations to sit and listen to speeches or perform for locals. It was lovely. We could even get to know each other better.

Those who are not paddling have to clean up camp, move to the crew change spot, then get in paddling gear for the change. The new road crew then moves to either the next crew change location, or to camp. It's a bit of a crazy way to live. But it's only for a couple of months.

A lot of this is about how our team of paddlers is getting along. Most folks are pitching in and helping where necessary. Most folks paddle, or not, according to the needs of the team. It's the exceptions that are difficult to address, and can make for difficult feelings occasionally. No, we've not had any blow-ups, or even anything close to it. Only a bad flu bug that has laid a couple of the brigade low, including one of my team.

I'm writing from the Cumberland House community school. They are planning quite the program for the day. The children were let out of school early to participate in canoe races--from age 11 and up! With real entrance fees and prize money. Canoeing and canoe races are very much part of the culture here. No wonder the Cumberland House team is always first into camp, even though they often start later.

That's it from the river bank.

I'm off to the North

I'm sitting in Prince Albert, SK's public library, after four? days of paddling on the North Saskatchewan River. I started upstream of Battleford at a rural community called Big Gully. They fed us well, and welcomed us with warm hospitality including live music.

Fort Carlton not only had even better food, they had pagentry galore. Pipers brought us up from the river in a parade, and then seranaded us during dinner. They too had a fiddler, who could catch up to the CD for the Scottish country dancing so well the crowd demanded the music be live only. Native dancing of various sorts rounded out the program. Of course all 100 or more of us voyageurs were in costume to some degree or other. It was rather thrilling! see http://www.youtube.com/user/ThompsonBrigade2008 for some video of us.

the videographer Jay is travelling with us, and will keep adding more photos. My own photos are most disappointing.

You may have noticed that food is important. One day the food was a little thin, and we noticed. We like lots, but then if you're working as hard as we are, food matters. We're paddling about 8-11 hour days, often with a crew change in the middle somewhere. I was worried about how physically prepared I'd be. I'm getting there now.

We're moving out of the parkland part of the prairies into boreal forest. That means, hopefully, less wind but more bugs. The chill has kept the bugs down considerably so far. I'm not eager for a big explosion of them though.

When I arrived, the team was up to 13 paddlers. That meant some creative crew changes. Now we're down to 11, and I think we'll be that for a while now. Interactions can be pretty interesting. We're mostly pretty experienced paddlers, with our own preferences for doing things. While we each try to be accommodating, we also have our bottom lines.

and, the big canoe we're paddling has space limitations. It feels more like packing a kayak!

For the exact route plan see http://2008thompsonbrigade.com/2008DTBpaddlers_schedule08Apr24.pdf
for the best estimate of what's happening. Who knows when I'll be able to post again though.